Pottsville’s Yuengling Brewery To Hold Oktoberfest In Bethlehem

America’s oldest brewery, D. G. Yuengling & Son, will hold the first annual Oktoberfest at the SteelStacks performing arts venue in South Side Bethlehem beginning in 2011.   I can think of another former Bethlehem Steel site that could use an awesome brownfield transformation like the one in Bethlehem.  Hint, hint!

The Pottsville based brewery plans to hold the annual event the last week of September and the first week of October each year in a 130 x 160 foot tent which will be christened the Yuengling Festehalle.  Yuengling will make a new seasonal Oktoberfest beer for the occasion.

Yuengling also plans to sponsor 200 concerts in the Musikfest Cafe which is currently under construction at the former site of Bethlehem Steel.  The cafe will be completed this time next year.  Cream of the crop guitar manufacturer, C. F. Martin will sponsor a lobby in the cafe that will feature photographs of famous musicians playing Martin guitars. 

Martin’s global headquarters and primary factory are located in Nazareth which is located 4 miles north of Bethlehem.

Another Pennsylvania Town Headed Toward Act 47

Just a few short months after the City of Reading was accepted into Act 47, the Borough of Dunmore is teetering on the brink.  Dunmore, which is an adjacent suburb to the City of Scranton, has a population of 14,000 and is on the verge of bankruptcy.  Dunmore has accumulated $14.5 million in long-term debit and is facing an increase in expenditures for 2011 of $550,000.00.

Evidently the Commonwealth has reached out to Dunmore for over a year but those overtures fell on deaf ears.  Many on Council did not even know that help was offered.  Sounds like some Sunshine Law violations, but we digress.

In another interesting coincidence, the City of Scranton is also under Act 47 and has been since 1992!  Dunmore and Scranton are contiguous.

Dunmore’s Council is debating whether or not to go the way of their much larger neighbor and seek protection under Act 47 or come up with their own recovery program.

Pennsylvania Is A Wine And Grape Producing Powerhouse

This is a very interesting set of facts that I stumbled upon while doing my usual internet surfing for stories.

Many people know that Erie County is a big grape and wine-producing area.  What you may not realize is where the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania stacks up out of the 50 states for wine and grape production.

This data is for 2007 but is the latest available information on this subject:

Pennsylvania is the 3rd largest juice grape producing state.  Who knew?

Pennsylvania is the 7th largest wine-producing state!

Pennsylvania had 114 wineries in 2007, up from 104 wineries 2005.

Wine, grapes and grape juice contributed $2.35 BILLION dollars to Pennsylvania’s economy in 2007!

So do your part to help the state’s economy and drink some delicious Pennsylvania wine 🙂

Happy Memorial Day

Wishing all my readers a safe and enjoyable Memorial Day weekend. 

Along with our festivities, we should pause for a moment of silence in remembrance of the men and women in our armed forces who gave their lives so we could be free.

Stay cool!

Image(s) courtesy VintageHolidayCrafts.com